The Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) under development for the United States Navy as a surveillance aircraft. In tandem with its associated ground control station, it is considered an unmanned aircraft system (UAS). Developed under the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) program, the system is intended to provide real-time intelligence, reconnaissance missions (ISR) over vast ocean and coastal regions, continuous maritime surveillance, as well as search and rescue missions, for the U.S. Navy, and to complement the Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, but the equipment to link the two platforms is currently unfunded.[2][3][4] Triton builds on elements of the Global Hawk UAS while incorporating reinforcements to the air frame and wing, along with de-icing and lightning protection systems. These capabilities allow the aircraft to descend through cloud layers to gain a closer view of ships and other targets at sea when needed. The current sensor suites allow ships to be tracked over time by gathering information on their speed, location, and classification.[5]

The MQ-4C System Development and Demonstration (SDD) aircraft was delivered in 2012 and the MQ-4C UAS was originally expected to be operational by late 2015[6][7] with a total of 68 aircraft to be procured. However, in April 2013, the Navy announced that production has shifted from FY14 to FY15 due to additional testing requirements and technical issues related to the aircraft's double-tail vertical stabilizer and rudder, and software integration for maritime sensors.[8] According to the latest information available from the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), the Initial Operational Capability (IOC) for the MQ-4C UAS is now planned for 2017.[4]

The BAMS UAS was acquired for the U.S. Navy as a Department of Defense Acquisition Category (ACAT) 1D program[13][14] and on April 22, 2008, Northrop Grumman received the BAMS contract worth $1.16 billion.[15] Lockheed Martin filed a formal protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) two weeks later.[16] On August 11, 2008 the GAO ruled to uphold the Navy’s selection of Northrop Grumman.[17] In September 2010, the BAMS aircraft was designated the MQ-4C.[18]

Official unveiling took place on 14 June 2012 at Palmdale, California. During the event, it was announced that the Navy had approved the name "Triton" for the aircraft. The first flight of the MQ-4C by aircraft Bureau Number (BuNo) 168457 took place on 22 May 2013, followed by subsequent test flights at Edwards AFB, California and NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. Initial Operational Capability (IOC) was planned for December 2015[19] and has now slipped to 2017.[4]

Northrop Grumman unveiled the MQ-4C Triton in Palmdale, California in June of 2012

In August 2013, the Navy paused the development of the "sense and avoid" radar system that would enable the MQ-4C to avoid other aircraft traffic. The Triton would have been the first unmanned aircraft to be fitted with an airborne sense and avoid solution, but the system was behind schedule and over budget. The radar system remains a requirement in the program, but budgetary and technology pressures have forced the Navy to defer integrating it onto the aircraft. The Navy and Northrop Grumman are working to determine when the sense-and-avoid system can be cut into the production line.[24] The Navy restarted the competition for a sense-and-avoid radar for the Triton in November 2014 with less ambitious requirements, such as receiving data from ground radars as it approaches an airport and a modular and scalable design that can be incrementally improved to meet evolving future operational and air traffic management requirements.[25]

On 6 September 2013, the Navy awarded Northrop Grumman a $9.98 million contract for maintenance and support of the MQ-4C SDD aircraft to enable it to fly 15 missions per month, an increase from 9 per month as previously planned, with senior Navy commanders wanting to keep closer tabs on activities in the ocean and coastal regions of the Middle East.[26]

The Navy began considering in September 2014 cutting the number of Tritons it will buy. The plan has been to have 20 operational MQ-4C aircraft operational at any one time, with the rest of the 68-plane order force being spares. Due to the improved reliability of the aircraft, budget pressures may force the Navy to trim the numbers of aircraft it will order.[27]

Australia has considered the MQ-4, both as a military platform and as customs enforcement platform; senior customs officials have doubted the effectiveness of the planned seven MQ-4C to detect small boats in the country's northern waters, especially through cloud cover.[28] In 2013, Air Marshall Geoff Brown, head of the Royal Australian Air Force, stated that Australia was considering purchasing more manned P-8 Poseidon aircraft and reducing the number of MQ-4Cs planned to be bought for the RAAF.[29] On 16 February 2014, it was reported that the Australian government would seek the purchase of seven MQ-4C Tritons; in addition to locating ships and aircraft, it would also be used to detect seaborne asylum seekers. Alongside the P-8, the MQ-4 is to replace the elderly P-3 Orion fleet.[30]

On 13 March 2014, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced Australia's intention to buy the MQ-4C Triton and become its first foreign customer. The announcement was made at RAAF Base Edinburgh, the base of the country's fleet of 18 AP-3C Orion aircraft it will replace. The Triton buy is part of the Australian Defense Forces' Project Air 7000 two-phase Orion replacement program; Phase 1B entails procuring the Triton UAS, and Phase 2B is the acquisition of 8-12 manned P-8A Poseidons in 2017. RAAF Tritons and Poseidons will be used in a similar complementary fashion as with U.S. Navy operation, where the MQ-4C performs high-altitude broad area surveillance missions, allowing the P-8A to be more dedicated to anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, search and rescue response, and electronic intelligence missions. The exact number and introduction date for Australian Triton airframes will be revealed in a new government Defence White Paper in early 2015, but numbers are believed to be between six and eight aircraft with introduction around 2020. The deal can be affected by its U.S. Navy development completion.[31]

India

Northrop Grumman has also proposed the MQ-4C to India; the Indian Navy have considered the UAV in a complementary role to the 12 Boeing P-8I Poseidons maritime patrol aircraft it has on order.[32]

Germany

In January 2015, the German Luftwaffe and Bundeswehr began considering the Triton to fill their signals intelligence (SIGINT) needs as a continuation of the cancelled Global Hawk-based EuroHawk program. After the retirement of the German Navy's five Br.1150 Atlantique aircraft in 2010, the EuroHawk was intended to fill the SIGINT gap, but was cancelled in May 2013 after spending €600 million ($750 million) from concerns of its ability to satisfy airworthiness regulations to permit flight over civil airspace in Europe. With about half of the investment on the electronic intelligence (ELINT) and communications intelligence (COMINT) sensors, Germany is trying to get some form of the program into service. Using the Triton would ease integration by keeping the sensors in the same place, gondolas hung under the wings, which limited attempts to put them on other airframes due to reception problems with nearby engine placement. With icing and lightning-strike protection already included, the MQ-4C would have a better chance of achieving safety certification to fly over inhabited areas of Europe that previously ended the EuroHawk.[33]

UK

On 20 July 2014 the UK MOD confirmed that it intended to purchase a minimum eight MQ-4C's to replace the cancelled BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4 after defence chiefs stated that the UK's nuclear deterrent Trident may have been compromised to the Russians.[34][35]

The MQ-4C can stay aloft for over 24 hours at 55,000 ft (17,000 m) at speeds of up to 330 kn (380 mph; 610 km/h). Its surveillance sensor is the AN/ZPY-3 Multi-Function Active Sensor (MFAS) X-band AESA radar with a 360-degree field-of-regard, capable of surveying 2,700,000 sq mi (7,000,000 km2) of sea (as well as shoreline or land), or 2,000 sq mi (5,200 km2) in a single sweep. Using the radar in inverse synthetic aperture mode, the MFAS can identify a target in any weather condition and take high definition radar pictures, then use the advanced image and radar return recognition software of the onboard automatic identification system (AIS) to classify it without the aircraft operators needing to. The Triton is made to be semi-autonomous to conserve manpower, so operators only have to pick an area for the aircraft to fly in and set speed, altitude, and objective rather than actually operating controls.[36]

One thing the Triton was designed to do that the Global Hawk cannot is rapidly descend to lower altitudes, built with a more robust lower fuselage better able to withstand hail, bird, and lightning strikes with anti-icing systems on its wings. When at low altitude, the Triton would use its Raytheon MTS-B multi-spectral EO/IR sensor, also in use with the MQ-9 Reaper, which is equipped with additional laser designator, pointer, and range finding abilities capable of automatically tracking what the MFAS detects. The optical suite can stream live video to ground forces.[36]

The Triton is equipped with a modular electronic service measures (ESM) suite, similar to the one used on the Lockheed EP-3, to passively pick up and classify even faint radar signals. It is able to triangulate and geo-locate these signals, allowing mission planners to create an enemy "electronic order of battle" profile or keep the aircraft and others outside the range of enemy radars and air defenses. Picking up and locating the source of radar signals would also be useful for locating military vessels at sea for potential targeting.[36]

Another aspect of the MQ-4C is its ability to act as a network relay and data fusion center, able to receive and transmit messages from around a theater of operations between various sources not within line-of-sight of each other. It can take what ships, planes, and land sensors are seeing and broadcasting through various data-links and fuse that information together to create a common "picture" of the battlespace, which it then can rebroadcast. This capability greatly increases interoperability, situational awareness, targeting efficiency, and sensor picture clarity, while also providing an alternative to satellite-based communications systems.[36]

On 6 January 2014, Northrop Grumman announced that the MQ-4C had completed 9 test flights with 46 hours of flight time. Half of its envelope expansion testing, which included evaluating the aircraft at different altitudes, speeds, and weights, had been completed. Some flights lasted over 9 hours and reached 50,000 ft. A second Triton aircraft was to fly by March or April 2014.[39] Initial envelope expansion testing was completed in March 2014 through 13 flights, 81 flight hours, and reaching altitudes of 59,900 ft.[40]

On 18 September 2014, the Triton successfully conducted an 11-hour cross-country flight from Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, California facility to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. The cross-country flight test had been previously postponed twice due to bad weather. The aircraft flew a pre-approved instrument route along the southern U.S. border, crossing the Gulf of Mexico and Florida, then was directed north along the Atlantic coast and up the Chesapeake Bay, a distance of 3,290 nmi (3,790 mi; 6,090 km) at 50,000 ft (15,000 m) to avoid commercial air traffic. A test fleet of three Tritons completed 15 flights demonstrating speed and altitude capabilities prior to the trans-continental mission. With the completion of the cross-country flight, the MQ-4C program transitions from initial safety flight testing to validating its ability to perform operational missions over the ocean. Operations from Patuxent River in the coming weeks will test the aircraft's sensors, communications, interoperability, and expanded envelope flight coverage. The three test Tritons are scheduled to fly a total of 2,000 hours before reaching initial operating capability.[41]

The second MQ-4C Triton model flew on 16 October 2014, 17 months after the first model's first flight. It is being prepped to perform the cross-country flight later in the month that the first aircraft performed the previous month. A third model is also bring prepared to start flights; the third was planned to be funded by the Navy but was lost to budget cuts, so Northrop Grumman decided to self-fund production of the third prototype.[42]

On 7 February 2013, the U.S. Navy announced that it would stand up Unmanned Patrol Squadron NINETEEN (VUP-19) at NAS Jacksonville, Florida on 1 October 2013, to eventually operate the MQ-4C as the Navy's first Triton squadron.[43] A detachment of VUP-19 will also be established at NAS Point Mugu, California. VUP-19 will fall under the administrative control of Commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing ELEVEN (CPRW-11) at NAS Jacksonville, where an MQ-4C mission control facility is also under construction, and will initially operate the Triton on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions for the U.S. 5th Fleet in the Southwest Asia/Middle East/East Africa region, the U.S. 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, the U.S. 7th Fleet in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean, and U.S. Fleet Forces Command in western Atlantic operations. In 2014, the Navy will activate a second Triton squadron, VUP-11, to take over operations in the Pacific in support of U.S. 7th Fleet and share U.S. 5th Fleet operations with VUP-19.[8]